Jump to content
Braves-Twins game thread is live — talk the game with us! ×
Twins Daily
  • Create Account

stringer bell

Verified Member
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    21,523

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    95

 Content Type 

Profiles

News

Minnesota Twins Videos

2026 Minnesota Twins Top Prospects Ranking

2022 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks

Minnesota Twins Free Agent & Trade Rumors, Notes, & Tidbits

Guides & Resources

2023 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks

The Minnesota Twins Players Project

2024 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks

2025 Minnesota Twins Draft Pick Tracker

2026 Minnesota Twins Draft Tracker: Picks & Bonuses

Forums

Blogs

Events

Store

Downloads

Gallery

Everything posted by stringer bell

  1. stringer bell
    I agree with much of what you are saying. Urshela has hit in high impact spots in the order far too often. Sánchez and Kepler as well. Youngsters Larnach, Kirilloff and Miranda have the potential to be middle of the order bats for the Twins for most of the decade, but none of those guys has even a full season of plate appearances in the majors. The Twins aren’t the slugging team they were in 2019. They need to run the bases better and improve their situational hitting. There isn’t nearly enough “get ‘em over, get ‘em in” after lead off hits. I expect Kirilloff to help the offense improve and long-term I think Max Kepler is on his way out, even though he is a good player in almost all aspects of the game.
  2. stringer bell
    So far in his career, Garlick is an answer to left handed pitching and should be in a run-producing spot in the lineup when he has the platoon advantage. Arraez is also a real offensive weapon only when he has the platoon advantage. Of course, LH hitters see right handers much more often than the reverse. I believe in Kirilloff being a middle of the order hitter, when healthy. His stats this year are going to be skewed by the dreadful start he endured, probably while battling considerable wrist pain. Back to the OP, I checked BBRef and there isn't a single Twin with a positive rating in base running, not one! According to my highly unofficial compilation, the Twins are -8 runs in base running, that isn't purely about stealing bases, of course. They don't have much team speed and don't have many skilled base runners. I think that is a factor in their inability to score runs commensurate with their OPS.
  3. stringer bell
    To me, the answers are pretty self-evident. The Twins have a paucity of team speed and also have become strikeout prone. Advancing runners is not their strength. In this alleged new era where small ball has more cachet, the Twins lack components to get it done.
  4. stringer bell
    BTW, Miranda was included in a topic entitled "Who Gets Dealt?" in the Minor League Forum back in April: https://twinsdaily.com/forums/topic/55765-who-gets-dealt/#comment-1114839 The single vote for Miranda was by yours truly.
  5. stringer bell
    One of the slogans is "sell high" and that would eliminate trading Balazovic or Martin. Steer has absolutely mashed this season (similar to Miranda's 2021) and has played in the middle infield more than Miranda did in 2021. I think the Twins can afford to part with one of those two guys (Miranda or Steer). I can support a trade involving Miranda. I have been disappointed by his lack of selectivity and his defense. I can also support a trade for Steer. On balance, I think the team would be a bit better off with Miranda, especially since (as noted above) he is younger.
  6. stringer bell
    Miranda has been okay at the plate, but he’s a poor defender at this point. With Polanco out, Arraez can handle second with Kirilloff at first. When Polanco returns, using AK at first and Arraez at DH beats having two catchers in the lineup. Tough calls about who to send down, but if there aren’t any injuries among the position players, I think Kirilloff is a better bet to perform than both Miranda and Larnach.
  7. stringer bell
    Agreed, bullpen back end is the #1 priority to address at or before the trade deadline. I think two high-leverage guys are needed, moving Jax, Pagán and Thielbar to less leverage. There are enough arms—that is there is major league quality even for the seventh and eighth best bullpen pieces— but I don’t like the Twins’ chances to prevail in relief pitcher battles unless they add an arm or two from outside the organization.
  8. stringer bell
    His best position is first base. Arraez can handle second.
  9. stringer bell
    The IL for position players is only 10 days at the minimum. Polanco won't have played for 5 days at this point. Hindsight is 20-20 but Kirilloff could have come up for Polanco easily enough.
  10. stringer bell
    A lot of key at bats, as well as pitching and fielding highlights. 1) Urshela made a do or die play that broke up a possible rally. 2) Gray retired the side after Trammel reached third with no one out. He made a great 3-2 pitch to France. 3) Jeffers and Correa with big RBI hits. 4) Thielbar retiring the pinch hitter on a routine fly ball. Getting ahead in the count made a real difference in what kind of swing the batter had. 5) Arraez’ 2-run single pretty much iced the game.
  11. stringer bell
    I don’t think there would be any problem finding at-bats for Kirilloff. However there are no easy demotions to make roster room for AK.
  12. stringer bell
    It is true that there are a lot of guys like Chi Chi Gonzalez out there. Outcomes are varied. Most move around and get occasional opportunities (guys like Andrew Albers and Aaron Slegers), some find a home in an organization. Most don't make much of a mark. It looks like Gonzalez will get an opportunity with the Brew Crew. Good for him.
  13. stringer bell
    In 61 games last season, Buck had 4.5 WAR. He isn’t outperforming that this year, although if he does get into 120 games, he’ll easily eclipse that 4.5 aggregate WAR total. Since the start of 2021, his HR frequency is on top of the charts, but the OBP and slugging are down from last season. He’s been basically an “all or nothing at all” hitter this year. To me, he’s only using a fraction of his skills and yet he’s a very good baseball player. I want to add that load management and injury are why he’s only using a fraction of his skills, not lack of effort or anything else.
  14. stringer bell
    With Garlick nearly ready to return, there already is a position player crunch. Assuming Soto goes down plus two pitchers when Gray, Ryan and Garlick are activated, who is demoted to bring up Kirilloff? Gordon and Garlick would likely be lost to the team. Larnach has done well and has played a good corner OF, Celestino is hitting well over .300 and is Buxton’s primary backup. Miranda has come on and provides an alternate at third and first against lefties. No easy choices. I do expect AK to return fairly soon. I expect a decent contributor once he gets here with plenty of at-bats.
  15. stringer bell
    I was wondering about Steer, as well. Glad that his absence isn't injury related. I guess the Saints don't need him!
  16. stringer bell
    The Twins have used Sánchez at DH frequently against RH pitching. I would think that having Kirilloff in the lineup instead would make a better attack. For now, neither catcher is hitting much and it seems a waste to have both in the lineup so often.
  17. stringer bell
    Hey, Buck is on another amazing power run. However, I still don't see the same guy we saw in April--a nightmare on the base paths, all-world center field and a guy who hits ropes all over the field. Maybe I'm nit-picking, but Buxton is not running full-speed very often, only playing center about half to 60% of the time and is hitting the ball over the fence a lot. I fear we may go through times where he's not barrelling balls and he slumps (not 0-30, but twenty or thirty unproductive at-bats). That said, this version of Buxton is still pretty doggone valuable. Ideally Smeltzer would be a fifth starter. Right now, he's the top starter on the active roster. Much like Dylan Bundy's first few starts, if his command is excellent, he can get guys out, but the margin for error is tiny. I like that the Twins can put at least one lefty in the rotation and still have to like Smeltzer's story. He's easy to root for.
  18. stringer bell
    The best cure for what ails the bullpen is longer starts. The second best cure is multi-inning relief outings. When healthy, Smeltzer, Gray and Ryan look like they can give six or seven innings on a fairly regular basis. It appears both Gray and Ryan will be back within the next ten days, however we'll probably see caution exercised since they will both have been out for a while. I disagree that Baldelli has overused his short relief guys. Thanks to an expanded roster, back-to-back appearances are infrequent as are appearances with over 30 pitches. Much criticism has been leveled at Rocco for his bullpen management. I think the underlying reason for what might appear as questionable decisions is avoiding overuse. Jax, Duran and Cotton have thrown multiple innings more than once IIRC. Having a potential starter (Winder, Gonzalez or Bundy) in the bullpen might also fill a need for longer relief.
  19. stringer bell
    If, and it is a huge if, the Twins can get their starters healthy and have a rotation of Gray, Ryan, Smeltzer, Ober, Archer with Winder filling a role, they have a competent, but unexciting rotation. I submit they need two bullpen arms if they really want to compete with the likes of the beasts of the east and Houston. Tier One: Duran + two acquired BP arms. Tier Two: Pagan, Smith, Thielbar, Jax, Moran, perhaps Megill.
  20. stringer bell
    Other third basemen have come to the majors for the Twins with bad fielding reps (Koskie and Plouffe to name a couple) and turned into acceptable or better defenders. Varland had a very nice game. I've seen some saying he is going to end up in the bullpen, but outings like today might give some pause. I presume if he feels all right, the Twins will want to give Winder another rehab start.
  21. stringer bell
    Bundy has to have near-perfect command to be effective. When he doesn't he'll get hit around. Of the starters who should be available at some time this month, here is my list: 1) Gray. 2) Ryan. 3) Ober. 4) Smeltzer. 5) Archer. 6) Winder. 7) Bundy. Getting everyone healthy has been like herding cats, but if they can all take regular turns, I don't see a place for Bundy.
  22. stringer bell
    I think we need to consider Duffey and Thielbar separately. Duffey has been among the worst relief pitchers in baseball, Thielbar got off to a rocky start, but has righted the ship. Duffey’s FIP is 5.05, Thielbar is 3.65.
  23. stringer bell
    I would say that command is the biggest problem. He's reduced his repertoire to the two pitches--fastball and curve--and they are both major league quality, but he has to throw more strikes in the right spots. Right now, I would say he is certainly worth a look.
  24. stringer bell
    There was a day off in between. The Twins got 3+ out of Sands and have Archer, who has only gone as much as 5 innings in one start and then Bundy, who has struggled against good offenses. Yes, the bullpen will pitch a lot of innings in the Yankee series. When dividing the bullpen between high leverage and low, who gets high leverage? I would say Duran, Smith, Pagán, Jax and Thielbar. That is not exactly the Nasty Boys or a shutdown group, but it is better than Canó, Megill, Minaya and Duffey.
  25. stringer bell
    1) The Twins were behind the entire game and no ML manager uses his high-leverage bullpen arms when trailing in a game in June. Baldelli had already used. Minaya and Canó. I guess it was the experienced, but struggling Duffey or Megill for the seventh inning. 2) Baldelli has seen Duffey recover from rough spots before, particularly last year. I think he and Wes have as good a handle on how effective they can expect him to be going forward. 3)If you look back, Duffey retired the first two batters quickly and easily. One batter reached when a hopper got through the shift and the next AB was a walk—bring in another low-leverage guy with two on and two out? We are all too quick to give up on guys. Pitcher and hitters slump. I don’t know if Tyler Duffey is good enough any more to get out good major league hitters regularly, but he has in the past. If there’s not something physically wrong with Duffey, I would advocate his DFA, but if he’s on the team last night in the seventh inning was as good a time as any to have him pitch an inning.
×
×
  • Create New...